Goodbyes are never easy
by Scattered Rose Petals
Summary: As he lies dying from cancer, the Joestar clan comes to wish him farewell and reflect on how much Joseph means to them.


**I dedicate this story to my grandfather. I know he'll be long gone after I finish writing this, but I just want to say thank you for being my grandpa for 20+ years. I'm proud to be your granddaughter no matter what. You've always brightened everyone's days with your smiles and laughter. I will always love you until the day I die myself. Thank you for being in my life and watching me grow into adulthood.**

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Joseph Joestar by no means was a spring chicken. He may have saved the world twice, but he was getting older, and everyone around was taking notice. His joints ached more with each passing year, and his hands were no longer as sturdy as they were years ago. He was thankful for Suzie and Shizuka helping him out around the house. Otherwise, it might have taken him forever to get things done. But even with the help around the house, he still felt himself getting worse and worse as the days wore on. One day on a routine check up with the Speedwagon foundation, He and his family had received news that no one else should have to hear:

He was dying. Joseph Joestar, the man who had willingly risked his life to protect the world from the pillar men and a 150 year old vampire, was dying from cancer. Suzie wept bitterly in his arms. There was no way he was actually dying right? She refused to believe it! When he asked the doctors if there was some way to help him, all they suggested to him was the possibility of starting chemotherapy. There wasn't a 100% guarantee that it would completely cure it, but it was still better than nothing.

And thus started his sessions. Was he scared? Maybe. But he'd lived through and seen worse things. What was scarier than those things? The Speedwagon Foundation had even suggested to him that he combine his use of the ripple technique with the drugs they were administering to him. It had been years since he last used it, but it couldn't have hurt to try.

He thought that what they showed on television about chemotherapy was an exaggeration. But it wasn't. As it turned out, chemotherapy as just as horrible and exhausting as they showed it on television, even with the combined use of ripple. He had lost most of his energy and slept through most of the day. Back in his prime, he used to eat enough food to feed an entire army. Now, the very thought of putting food in his belly disgusted him. Hell, just a mouthful of porridge would be enough to send him running to the bathroom to vomit everything back up. Thank goodness there was also medication he could take to soothe his unstable stomach.

Suzie was such a patient and compassionate person. What did he ever do to deserve such a wonderful woman like her as his wife? Well, he saved her life for one, but that wasn't the point. Even if he was wasting away from chemotherapy, she stayed with him no matter what. And his adopted daughter was no different too. She was already 10 years old, but she showed an incredible amount of maturity and courage about this whole situation. Yes she was just as upset and scared as anyone else would be in her situation, but from what Joseph saw, ever since his diagnosis, not once had he seen her cry. Oh how lucky he was to have adopted such a wonderful daughter. Holly herself would call every now and then to hear about his condition, making his life a little brighter.

Eventually, all good things had to come to an end at some point. And Joseph's condition was no different. There was only so much chemotherapy and ripple can do for you, but even that could not even stave off what would eventually come to be. Joseph's health eventually started to deteriorate the next couple of years. It had gotten so bad that he eventually had to be bed ridden and hooked up to a machine. As his family discussed what to do with him next, he had taken the time to think about his life thus far.

Though it was morbid to think about, perhaps he should have been lucky to be able to live long enough to be diagnosed with cancer. His grandpa Jonathan never got to live a long full life. He was cut down in his prime not too long after getting married to his grandma Erina. He never got the chance to settle down and raise a family together with her. And he never got the chance to experience what it was like to have grand kids either. Grandma Erina, along with his uncle Speedwagon, raised him all by themselves in a time where being a single mother was frowned upon.

There were plenty of times where uncle Speedwagon could have married grandma Erina, but he had too much respect for his grandfather not to marry her. As for her, even after all these years, she never remarried because she still loved Grandpa Jonathan with all her heart. At least now they were together with him in heaven. Did he ever expect to have the crazy life that he had up until now? Of course not! His grandmother probably expected him to live out a simple and modest life AWAY from all the crazy stuff she experienced in her youth. She wanted him to be happy and grow up to live a modest life and a modest family. He did fulfill that last part, but not without going through a lot of grief for it first.

Never would he have expected to meet so many people in his life and wind up saving the world not only once, but twice. And even if it did come at the cost of a lot important people in his life, he never once regretted it. If he had gone on to live a normal and boring life, he never would have met his wife, nor have such wonderful kids in Holly, Josuke and Shizuka. There was also Jotaro too, his aloof grandson. Sometimes he and Jotaro never saw eye to eye, but he knew that he cared. He just had his own way of showing it, even if he never did say it out loud.

Then there was Caesar. He never got along with the Italian flirt. Hell, the first time they met, all they did was fight. Mostly about his womanizing ways and how he was always better than him at everything. But when it came down to it, he eventually became his greatest ally and friend. Even so, what did he have to show for it? He died as well in his prime without leaving anything behind. No girlfriends, no wives, no offspring, no anything. All he left behind were three very heart broken people begging for him to come back, as well as a very blood soaked headband with a nose ring tied to it.

The Joestar clan made the decision to have him looked after by a private hospital owned by the Speedwagon foundation. He had his own room and was constantly being monitored by nurses and doctors, though he would have preferred to spend his final days at home with his family. One by one, he was visited by every one of his family members. The first was his daughter Holly. Not many people knew this about her, but she was actually a lot more perceptive and mature than what people usually saw on the outside. Sure she was often loud and hyperactive, much to the exasperation of her son Jotaro.

It wasn't easy holding down the fort when you have a husband that you barely get to see and a once delinquent son who would sometimes make her worry sick with what he did. But in spite of it all, she usually covered it all up with a silly smile and jokes. Of course, considering the circumstances today, all traces of her usually silly self were gone. Now there was only a woman who was terrified of what fate had in store for her father.

"But daddy! I don't want you to die! I want you to live!" she said as she wiped away her tears.

"I know sweetie, but there's nothing more the doctors can do." He said while pulling her into a hug.

"Can you promise me something Holly?"

"What's that?"

"Long after I'm gone, I want you not to remember me was the scrawny and emaciated man that's lying before you, but as your father who filled your days with happiness and life."

Next was Jotaro. He wasn't too keen on seeing his grandfather in the state he was in now. But he still willed himself to see him because he was family afterall. He wasn't proud of the fact that he spent most of his junior high and high school days getting into fights, but Joseph and Holly never gave up on him. If it wasn't for them, he'd probably be rotting away in jail right now, always living in fear that he would hurt someone. And now here he was years later, standing in a sterile hospital room about to say his goodbyes to his grandfather.

"You know, I'm proud of you Jotaro" rasped Joseph

"For what?" he asked

"Well, you've grown into such a fine man. You're no longer getting into any fights, and now you're a marine biologist. You've come such a long way from when I found you sitting in that jail cell all by yourself."

Jotaro felt a twinge of sadness in his heart. Had his grandfather always been this sentimental? Had he always looked so frail and listless? Was this not the same man he had gone to Egypt and Morioh with? What had happened to the same grandfather that used to lift him on to his shoulders and give him rides? Where ever he was, he was gone, not that Jotaro would ever dare admit it.

"Is that all you have to say old man?" he asked

Joseph took Jotaro's hand into his own. He swallowed back a rising lump in his throat feeling just how boney and emasculated his good hand was. Joseph knew just how his grandson was feeling, even if he didn't express his sadness like other people did. Jotaro never really showed others his more vulnerable side since he always gave off the air of being a stoic delinquent. And as such, he sometimes came off as being rude and insensitive to others, hence why he got into so much trouble in his youth. But under that rough and unemotional front was still someone who cared enough about the people in his life. He just didn't show it enough.

"Hey now, what's with the long face?" he laughed hoarsely

"Life is short, and eventually all good things have to come to an end. You and I saved the world together as well as saved a town. And that's something of an accomplishment!"

Joseph gave Jotaro's hand a light squeeze. Jotaro squeezed back, trembling as he did.

"If we think too hard about how much time we have left on this planet, then we'd always be living in fear and never really living. So why not celebrate every day as a blessing? It's the least we can do for ourselves."

Jotaro said nothing but instead pulled up a chair beside his hospital bed.

"Can you look out for your mother and grandmother for me? They're going to need someone to lean on for this."

Jotaro quietly mulled over what Joseph had said with a thoughtful expression. Then, without any hesitation, he told him that he would fulfill his promise to him and stay with him to the very end.


End file.
